U.S. Sugar Corporation is a privately owned agricultural business based in Clewiston, Florida. The company farms over 230,000 acres of land in the counties of Hendry, Glades, Martin, and Palm Beach. It is the largest producer of sugarcane in the United States by volume, producing over 700,000 tonnes per year. The company is also a large producer of refined sugar, sweet corn and oranges.[3]
U.S. Sugar is considered in South Florida along with Florida Crystals and the 54-member Sugar Cane Growers Cooperative of Florida known as Big Sugar. The company is one of the largest employers in the Glades region of Florida, with more than 2,500 employees.
History
In 1931, industrialist and philanthropist Charles Stewart Mott purchased assets near Clewiston, Florida from a 1920s bankrupt sugarcane company, Southern Sugar Company, to form the United States Sugar Corporation.[4] In the 1940s, U.S. Sugar was charged with slavery violation.[5]